Romans 8:12-23
All About Perspective

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

New Revised Standard Version

Most of us would consider the situation of many of the early Christians to be desperate. Many Christians were wretchedly poor because they had been banned from the economic system for their beliefs. Many were frequent targets of attack from vandals intent on disrupting the lives of people who were threatening their way of life, and from governments who chose to declare their rulers as gods. Most early Christians had no "rights" as we know them, for the new concept of "civil rights" was reserved for privileged Roman citizens. Many early Christians were hunted, tortured, and killed for entertainment as a spiral of wickedness provoked those in power to lust after something more unusual and macabre than what had been done before.

To that generation of Christians, Paul sketches Eternity in a handful of verses. Greek philosophers had already taught that earthly existence was a physical mock-up of the spiritual reality--and they despaired that they were trapped in the counterfeit fleshly world. Paul taught Christians that the Greeks failed to see the Bridge between the two worlds! Because Jesus was fully God and fully human, and because He died for our forgiveness and conquered death in His Resurrection, we are not trapped in our flesh. We are born new by God's Spirit, chosen by God, grabbed up in God's arms and brought into His household as His children!

That is the perspective that lifted and carried many early Christians as they victoriously met their physical death. Paul felt just that thrill when he said "to die is gain". But he preceded that statement in Philippians 1:21 with the commitment that "to live is Christ". By living each day in closer devotion and obedience to Christ is to experience the heavenly world in our earthly being, a small appetizer from the banquet that is to come.

This is the perspective we need to keep at the forefront of our consciousness to live a victorious Christian life!